BREAKING: Supreme Court Closes FIRs Against NEET Paper Leak Protestors; Delhi Police To Register Fresh FIRs Against Persons With Criminal Antecedents

In light of the assurance given by the government, the Supreme Court today has quashed FIRs registered against those involved in the NEET Paper Leak Protests.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta today informed the CJI Surya Kant led bench that the government was committed to all the three assurances made by the Centre after a meeting was held between the government and the leaders of the protest. Notably the three assurances were, firstly, that Centre will not pursue the FIRs filed against the protestors from July 20-25, secondly, no future FIRs will be filed and lastly, the government would pay compensation to those unfortunate students who committed suicide.

For Delhi Police, the court was further informed today that regarding persons with criminal antecedents, who may have caused destruction of public property, 2873 individuals having serious criminal antecedents as per NCRB database were prima facie reported to be at protest site. The SG added that fresh FIRs would be registered against these individuals, not for being part of protest but other offences.

"It is submitted that no fresh FIRs shall be filed..in relation to this incident..this takes care of first two assurances..the applicant invoked the jurisdiction of this court under Article 142 of the Constitution of India for quashing of FIRs mentioned in the chart and seek permission to file fresh FIRs..your lordships should do complete justice," SG Mehta further told court today.

Notably, yesterday, the Centre moved an application before the Supreme Court of India to quash the FIRs registered against student protesters involved in the NEET Paper leak protests invoking its special powers under Article 142 of the Constitution.

The protest march announced by the Cockroach Janata Party in Delhi on September 5 alleging that the Centre has not honored its commitment to withdraw the cases against protesters who participated in the July protests across the country over NEET paper leak has also been called off.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had directed that the State government are at liberty to withdraw FIRs registered against the protestors involved in the recent protests that happened in various parts of the country over the NEET paper leak. As a CJI Surya Kant led bench clarified that those FIRs registered against persons who are already accused of grave and heinous offences may not be withdrawn, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the bench that 2700 such FIRs shall not be withdrawn.

SG Mehta had then told the bench, "There were some misapprehensions in what to do with the FIRs...we have instructions that the government is serious on the commitment..". SG further had informed court that persons with antecedents of rape cases, murder cases, POCSO cases etc would not be spared. Hearing this the bench clarified, "The term criminal antecedents in our previous order is clarified to mean grave and hennas offences."

Earlier, the Supreme Court had directed that no coercive action would taken against the protestors involved in the recent protests. A Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana had also ordered immediate release of minors detained by police across different States except those with criminal background.

On August 20, the Supreme Court has also constituted a High-Powered Enquiry Committee(HPEC) headed by Justice (Retd.) R. Subhash Reddy, Former Judge of the Supreme Court of India for an independent and impartial investigation into the alleged acts of violence during the NEET Paper Leak protests. The top court has ordered that the enquiry undertaken by the HPEC shall not be a one-time exercise rather, the Committee shall undertake a continuous and periodic assessment of the issues enumerated hereinabove, and shall submit its interim findings periodically so as to enable this Court to take appropriate measures and issue such directions as may be warranted.

Case Title: SHAILENDRA MANI TRIPATHI Vs UNION OF INDIA

Hearing Date: September 1, 2026

Bench: CJI Kant, Justice Bagchi and Justice Mohana